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Reclaiming Futures call for proposals
Reclaiming Futures® changed the way juvenile courts in 10 pilot sites help teens with drug and alcohol problems. A new national dissemination program supported by a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation will spread this proven approach to up to six additional communities through a learning collaborative that shares resources, improves data collection and utilization and promotes new standards of practice. No grant funds will be awarded as part of this initiative, but successful applicants will receive a technical assistance package valued at approximately $180,000.
Reclaiming Futures call for proposals FAQs
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Reclaiming Futures call for proposals
Program Overview
(Please refer to specific sections for complete details.)
Purpose
Reclaiming Futures changed the way juvenile courts in 10 pilot sites help teens
with drug and alcohol problems. A new national dissemination program supported
by a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to the national program
office of Reclaiming Futures will spread this proven approach to additional
communities through a learning collaborative that shares resources, improves
data collection and utilization and promotes new standards of practice.
Eligibility Criteria
The following organizations within the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and
the territories of the United States may apply:
- Juvenile courts
- Public and nonprofit treatment agencies
- State, local and tribal juvenile justice and alcohol and drug abuse treatment
authorities
Applicants must be either public entities or nonprofit organizations that are
tax-exempt under Section 501 c (3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Private
foundations as defined under Section 509(a) are also eligible to apply.
Selection Criteria
Priority will be given to applicants that demonstrate strengths in the following areas:
- Cross-sector partnerships
- Leadership and vision
- Sustainability and service reform
- Mentorships, youth leadership, and workforce development
Total Awards
- No grant funds will be awarded as part of this initiative.
- Up to six communities will be selected as Reclaiming Futures sites in 2008.
Each site will receive a package of technical assistance, including participation
in fellowships that exchange information and ideas and coaching via conference
calls and national meetings. Depending on the number of participating communities
the estimated value of services provided by Reclaiming Futures is up to
$180,000 per site. Communities must match this support by hiring and funding
a half-time project director.
Key Dates and Deadlines
- April 1, 2008 (3 p.m. ET)—Deadline for receipt of brief proposals.
- May 6, 2008—Finalists invited to submit full proposals.
- June 13, 2008 (3 p.m. ET)—Deadline for receipt of full proposals.
- August 11–12, 2008—Telephone interviews of finalists.
- August 15, 2008—Notification of site selections.
- October 1, 2008—Start of projects.
How to Apply
This program only accepts proposals submitted through the Robert Wood
Johnson Foundation Grantmaking Online system.
Background
Young people who enter the justice system with serious
drug and alcohol problems may not receive adequate
treatment, even though research shows that young people
who use drugs and alcohol are more likely to end up in
trouble with the law, behave violently or drop out of school.
In response to this urgent need for appropriate treatment,
the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) in 2002
launched Reclaiming Futures®, a five-year national program
whose pioneering communities—Anchorage, Alaska; Santa
Cruz County, Calif.; Chicago, Ill.; Southeastern Kentucky;
Marquette, Mich.; the State of New Hampshire; Dayton,
Ohio; Portland, Ore.; the Sovereign Tribal Nation of
Sicangu Lakota in Rosebud, S.D.; and Seattle, Wash.—
have changed the way judges, probation officers, treatment
providers, families and community members help youth
in the justice system get off drugs and alcohol. These
communities adopted an innovative model of change that
made a positive difference in the lives of young people.
In 2006, the 10 communities that piloted this model
reported significant improvements in the quality of juvenile
justice and substance abuse treatment services, according
to research conducted by the Urban Institute and the
University of Chicago’s Chapin Hall Center for Children.
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation seeks to spread
this proven model across the country by establishing a
collaborative among the original 10 Reclaiming Futures
pilot sites and up to 12 new sites. These communities
will work together in a national learning collaborative that
shares resources, ideas and information. The collaborative
will include three additional communities whose juvenile
drug courts in 2007 received grants and other assistance
through a partnership among RWJF, the Office for Juvenile
Justice Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) and the Center
for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT).
The Reclaiming Futures model combines system reforms,
treatment improvement and community engagement to
help young people break the cycle of drugs, alcohol and
crime. Key elements of the Reclaiming Futures approach
include:
- establishing alcohol and drug abuse screening and
assessment for juvenile courts;
- developing individualized care plans;
- training alcohol and drug abuse treatment providers in
evidence-based practices; and
- involving community as mentors and role models to
provide the support teens need.
The Reclaiming Futures model makes the detection of
substance abuse, its treatment and the coordination of
other services part of the way juvenile courts do business
every day. Reclaiming Futures supports the key objectives
of RWJF’s Vulnerable Population Portfolio by offering a
fresh approach to a long-standing problem, addressing
poor health status in the context of other factors such as
juvenile justice, making fundamental changes in how
services are organized and delivered, and increasing service
integration among local service providers and state and
federal agencies, including legal agencies.
RWJF will select new communities—up to six in 2008
and up to six more sites in 2009—to join the Reclaiming
Futures learning collaborative. This call for proposals seeks
applicants to the 2008 period. The call for proposals for
communities that wish to become a Reclaiming Futures
site in 2009 will be released in early 2009.
The Program
Up to 12 new communities will join a national learning
collaborative to implement the Reclaiming Futures model.
The Reclaiming Futures national program office (NPO)
will provide significant technical assistance to these
communities. New sites will not receive cash grants.
Each site will receive a package of technical assistance,
including participation in fellowships that exchange
information, ideas and coaching via conference calls
and national meetings. Depending on the number of
participating communities the estimated value of services
provided by Reclaiming Futures is up to $180,000 per site.
Local communities must match this support by hiring and
supporting a project director working at least half-time.
This new phase of Reclaiming Futures has three goals, to:
- demonstrate how to use state-of-the-art tools, methods
and Web-based resources to adopt the Reclaiming
Futures model;
- develop data collection methods that make the case for
Reclaiming Futures and use this information to inform
strategic relationships with elected and appointed
officials and key administrative and community
partners; and
- participate in a national dialogue to promote the
Reclaiming Futures model as a new national standard
of practice.
Each community selected for the national learning
collaborative will benefit from the following elements:
- A Toolkit: Including publications, workshops, online
curricula and time with expert consultants.
- Coaching: Each site receives coaching to assist with local
implementation of the Reclaiming Futures model.
- Leadership: One local representative per site from the
following five groups—project directors, judges, community
leaders, juvenile justice professionals and substance
abuse treatment providers—will participate in a national
fellowship. Fellows share information and ideas about
Reclaiming Futures through monthly conference calls
and an annual meeting.
- National Learning Collaborative Participation:
A community's leadership team will participate in
peer-to-peer education in the learning collaborative
through training, coaching and other instruction in the
Reclaiming Futures approach. The Reclaiming Futures
national learning collaborative includes three other
communities whose juvenile drug courts have received
grants and other assistance through a partnership among
RWJF, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency
Prevention (OJJDP) and the Center for Substance
Abuse Treatment (CSAT).
Applicants must make a system-wide commitment that
the Reclaiming Futures model will guide the operation
and coordination of the juvenile justice and alcohol and
drug treatment systems. Communities chosen to join the
national learning collaborative must do the following to
receive a license as an official Reclaiming Futures site from
the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation:
- Hire a project director working at least half-time with a
formal job description to use the Reclaiming Futures
model to establish an integrated care system for alcohol
and drug involved young people.
- Appoint a "change team" that includes representatives
of the judiciary, probation, alcohol and drug treatment,
community, including faith, business, mentoring or
youth leadership organization, youth and family sectors,
and others as needed.
- Assure that change team members participate in all
Reclaiming Futures learning collaborative activities and
complete the core curriculum, including online learning
courses, phone conferences with a Reclaiming Futures
coach and other sites, and face-to-face national meetings
as a team.
- Produce a strategic plan (with timelines, benchmarks
and clear assignments of responsibilities) that includes:
- a management structure for the change effort;
- an articulated commitment to improving systematically
the response to identifying and intervening
with alcohol and drug involved young people across
the juvenile justice system;
- cross-disciplinary orientation and training for system
partners;
- adoption of all of the elements of the Reclaiming
Futures model;
- expansion of active community partners (i.e.,
treatment agencies, youth mentoring and leadership
opportunities, youth employment opportunities);
- development and implementation of a data tracking
system to demonstrate the process and outcome
measures in the Reclaiming Futures model; and
- strategies and capacity to engage in sustained and
targeted communications of specific stakeholders,
such as teens and families, and the public.
Eligibility Criteria
The following organizations within the 50 states, the
District of Columbia, and the territories of the United
States may apply:
- Juvenile courts
- Public and nonprofit treatment agencies
- State, local and tribal juvenile justice and alcohol and
drug abuse treatment authorities
Applicants interested in securing local matches from
other foundations or local funders to increase the
number of sites within a given state are especially
encouraged to apply.
Applicants must be either public entities or nonprofit
organizations that are tax-exempt under Section 501 c (3)
of the Internal Revenue Code. Private foundations as
defined under Section 509(a) are also eligible to apply.
Selection Criteria
Priority will be given to sites that demonstrate the
following strengths:
- Cross-sector Partnerships
- Management teams with experience in interagency
collaborations and strong administrative, training and
supervision skills.
- History of collaboration and systems change that
produce results.
- Leadership and Vision
- Local judge(s) with strong commitment to the adoption
of the Reclaiming Futures model.
- History of advocacy for substance-abusing youth and
their families in the juvenile justice system.
- Successful leadership collaboration across systems.
- Sustainability and Service Reform
- Commitment to project sustainability and matching funds.
- Success in making services developmentally appropriate,
gender specific and culturally relevant.
- Commitment to effective management information
system infrastructure and a demonstrated ability to track
individual youth and family cases.
- Mentorships, Youth Leadership and Workforce Development
- Successful community support for youth and commitment
to creative solutions for youth concerns.
- Involvement by adult and youth community members
in the development of a service system and creation of
alternative programming.
- Support by influential community leaders.
Evaluation and Monitoring
The Reclaiming Futures NPO is responsible for overall
management and monitoring of this national learning
collaborative and will ask grantees to provide periodic
reports. The NPO many also ask project directors to
participate in meetings and give progress reports. At the
close of the project, the lead agency is expected to provide
a written report on the project and its findings suitable for
wide dissemination.
How to Apply
All proposals for this program must be submitted only
through the RWJF Grantmaking Online system at
http://grantmaking.rwjf.org/say.
There are three stages in the competitive proposal process:
(1) applicants submit a brief proposal; 2) a limited number
of communities will be invited to submit a full proposal;
and 3) a small group of finalists will participate in an
individual telephone interview.
Stage 1: Brief Proposal
Applicants must submit a brief proposal of up to 1,500
words that describes proposed goals and objectives, the
population to be served, the community’s readiness and
experience, and local project leadership. All proposals must be
submitted through the RWJF Grantmaking Online system.
Stage 2: Full Proposal
After a review of brief proposals, a limited number of
applicants will be invited to submit a full proposal. Full
proposals cannot exceed 7,000 words. Instructions for
submitting a full proposal will be provided at that time.
Stage 3: Telephone Interview
After review of all full proposals selected finalists will be
invited by letter or e-mail to participate in a telephone
interview.
For more information on Reclaiming Futures and proposal
requirements please contact:
Jim Carlton, deputy director
Reclaiming Futures
Portland State University
School of Social Work
P.O. Box 751
Portland, OR 97207-0751
Inquiries regarding the program can be made to the deputy
director as follows:
Phone: (503) 725-8954
Fax: (503) 725-8915
E-mail: jcarlton@pdx.edu
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation does not provide
individual critiques of proposals submitted.
Program Direction
Direction and technical assistance for this program are
provided by the Portland State University School of Social
Work which serves as the national program office located at:
Portland State University
School of Social Work
P.O. Box 751
Portland, OR 97207—0751
www.reclaimingfutures.org
Responsible staff members at the national program
office are:
- Laura Nissen, Ph.D., M.S.W., director
- Jim Carlton, deputy director
Responsible staff members at the Robert Wood Johnson
Foundation are:
- Kristin Schubert, M.P.H., program officer
- Jim Marks, M.D., M.P.H., senior vice president and director,
Health Group
- Elaine Cassidy, Ph.D., program officer, Research and
Evaluation
- Ann Christiano, M.P.A.P., senior communications officer
- Joann Baquilod, grants administrator
Timetable
- April 1, 2008 (3 p.m. ET)
Deadline for receipt of brief proposals submitted online.
- May 6, 2008
Finalists invited to submit full proposals.
- June 13, 2008 (3 p.m. ET)
Deadline for receipt of full proposals submitted online.
- August 11–12, 2008
Telephone interviews with finalists.
- August 15, 2008
Notification of site selections.
- October 1, 2008
Start of projects.
About the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation focuses on the pressing health and health care
issues facing our country. As the nation’s largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to
improving the health and health care of all Americans, we work with a diverse group
of organizations and individuals to identify solutions and achieve comprehensive,
meaningful and timely change.
For more than 35 years, we’ve brought experience, commitment and a rigorous,
balanced approach to the problems that affect the health and health care of those we
serve. When it comes to helping Americans lead healthier lives and get the care they
need, we expect to make a difference in your lifetime.
For more information visit www.rwjf.org.
Download a PDF of the complete call for proposals
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